It's Time To Act

As evidence mounts that exposure to bisphenol A poses unnecessary risks to humans, a new and encouraging effort to ban BPA in some kids products may be afoot in the U.S. Senate.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who has pushed in the past to amend the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) and impose new restrictions, says she will try again. The amendment she plans to offer would:

— Ban BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups within six months.

— Ban BPA from baby food and infant formula within two years.

— Require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to issue a new safety assessment for BPA in food and beverage products within two years.

Feinstein's amendment is based on sound science; the Senate should move to adopt it when it convenes for a lame duck session after the midterm elections.

If Feinstein moves ahead with the amendment, she'll likely have a fight on her hands. BPA is a $6 billion-a-year industry, and the chemical industry continues to argue that BPA poses no threat in low doses.

What the chemical companies don't want you to know is how often you encounter BPA in a single day — in plastic bottles, cans, containers and dental sealants; on the receipts that gas pumps spit out; in the liners of food containers.

Studies have found the chemical in the urine of 93 percent of Americans.

BPA has been linked to abnormal brain chemistry, attention disorders, cancer and premature puberty. Just this week, a new study of 514 Chinese workers found that the chemical was linked to lower sperm quality in men. Another study released in September in the journal "Environmental Health Perspectives" looked at both mice and rhesus monkeys and found that 18 hours after exposure, the blood of the monkeys still contained active BPA. The study "suggests that total daily human exposure is via multiple routes and much higher than previously assumed."

The government of Canada earlier this month declared BPA to be a toxic substance. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continues to study BPA, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been sued by the Natural Resources Defense Council for failing to act on the group's petition to ban BPA in food packaging.

BPA should be banned from any product intended for children; we question whether it should be allowed in any product. But banning it in baby bottles and sippy cups would be a good start.

REPRINTED FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM